2 Amtrak workers killed, 116 hurt in South Carolina crash

In this January 2009 file photo, then President-elect Barack Obama, far right, waves from the back of a train to the waiting crowd at the Claymont Amtrak rail station.

CAYCE, South Carolina (AP):

An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a freight train parked on a side track in South Carolina early Sunday, killing two Amtrak employees and injuring more than 110 people, authorities said. It was the third deadly wreck involving Amtrak in less than two months.

The Silver Star was on its way from New York to Miami with nearly 150 people aboard around 2:45 a.m. when it plowed into the CSX train at an estimated 59 mph, Governor. Henry McMaster said. The crash happened around a switchyard about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Columbia.

The governor said investigators have yet to determine how the Amtrak train ended up on that stretch of track.